With Algiers out, Harmon property to be auctioned

Judy Odierna

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002 | 9:35 a.m.

A parcel of county land at Harmon Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South may be hitting the auction block again.

County commissioners directed city staff on Tuesday to conduct a reappraisal of the 2.5-acre Harmon site and then auction off the property at the appropriate time.

The move came after representatives of the Algiers hotel told the city that they didn't want to swap their land for the Harmon land if the county was not planning to realign Riviera Boulevard by cutting through the Algiers property.

"Now they have determined they don't need or want the road," Christopher Kaempfer, attorney for the Algiers, said. "Our sales have been derailed because any time someone wanted to buy the property, Public Works would say the realignment would cut the Algiers in two."

Algiers owner Larry Kifer had been trying to negotiate a deal with the county for almost a year in which he would exchange his 3.5 acres for the Harmon Avenue site.

County appraisers have questioned whether the two parcels are equitable because the south portion of the Las Vegas Strip, where the Harmon land is located, is more valuable than land on the north end, where the Algiers is located.

Kifer, however, contended that for the last decade any planned renovations at the Algiers have been crippled by the county's ongoing plan to realign Riviera Boulevard directly through his property.

Circus Circus representatives have publicly protested the realignment, saying it would hinder traffic flow into their parking lot, across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Algiers.

Kaempfer asked the commission to pass a resolution that would ensure that the realignment of Riviera Boulevard would not happen anytime in the near future.

"We want to make it clear to everyone that they are not going to ask for that road, so we won't be burdened with that roadway being in the way every time we try to do something with that property," he said after the meeting.

Kaempfer also asked that the county work with the Algiers to find an appropriate place for a pedestrian landing near the property and to help relocate the adjacent wedding chapel by allowing the facility to retain its status as one of two chapels grandfathered in as a freestanding chapel. All new chapels must be built inside hotels.

Commissioners asked county staffers to draft the resolutions.